Prologue

“Dave? David, come on, the flight leaves in three hours, and we'll need half of that to stand in line while TSA security invades what little privacy we pretend to still have in the US.”
Where was that man? He knew this was possibly the most important day of my life. I really should have gone a day early to curtail any unforeseen hurdles like this.
I love the man with all my heart, but this? His disregard for punctuality and schedules and any sort of organization or professionalism, just pushed that love at times. I yelled down the hall as I stood by the door of our apartment with my meticulously packed carry-on bag at my side, “Dave!”
Ah who am I kidding, that man was my miracle. Anyone who could put up with... how had my first boyfriend, Brian, put it? With my 'effing anal retentive control freak-ness'? Well anyone who could put up with that and still want to marry a woman who had her ten-year plan written down to the minute seven years ago, was a God damn diamond.
I still couldn't believe it when he had asked me to marry him last week. I had to look around for the hidden cameras, sure I was on some sort of reality prank show on TV. I spent the following two days, rewriting, and including... marriage into my plan. I moved a few things around, but I was sure I would still make vice president of Baker and Sands Technology Consultants in three years like I had planned. Even sooner if I landed this contact in Las Vegas.
This was the contract that was either going to make or break our company as we had invested so much up front to assure that Simon Securities would select us to set up their IT department on a global scale. It was a forty million dollar gamble that would cripple us if it didn't pan out, as we have invested over three million in infrastructure to support Simon Securities unique requirements already.
We only had one shot at this.
I was selected to close the deal as I had been the one to put in all the legwork to outmaneuver our rival, Eagle Tech, for this face to face. Our bid was five percent higher than Eagle, but they were more impressed by our record, attention to detail, and the professionalism of our contact with them. Guess being a little anal retentive can be a good thing, huh Brian?
Dave called out as he started down the hall with the big Gucci suitcase I got him on his birthday, “Don't get your panties in a twist, Olivia. It doesn't take that long to get through security, love.”
His winning smile made my cheeks heat, but I found myself asking, “Checked luggage, really, honey?”
Maybe this is why I loved the man so much, he liked to live dangerously and made me feel like a rebel at times like this when he cocked his eyebrow with that charming humor of his. I grinned at him and said, “Fine, but I'm driving. We need the Fast and the Furious right now, not driving Miss Daisy. You own a 370Z, Dave, act like it.” I had given him the car for Christmas, using most of my bonus check for landing the Landis account. There were times I thought he might love that car more than me... until he showed me in bed that I was mistaken – so suck it you little red sports car.
He held his keys away from me, shot me that knee-weakening seductive smile of his, and leaned in to kiss my cheek. His sexy mop of shoulder length honey blonde curls tickling my skin. How did a gorgeous man like this even put up with me?
He whispered, “No, love, nobody drives Shakira.”
No seriously, he calls his car Shakira, for all the curves, it is embarrassing really. Maybe that's why he hasn't been snapped up yet by someone more interesting than me.
He added hotly his breath warming my cheek, “I'll get us there on time.”
I squeaked out under his come-hither gaze, “O-ok.”
He playfully nipped my ear, and I found myself biting my lower lip as he ushered me gallantly out the door. I was marrying this man. I almost skipped to his car... I'm not calling it Shakira.
True to his word, we pulled into the parking garage at the Sea-Tac International Airport on time. To illustrate, he showed me the time on the Rolex I had bought him to celebrate the first anniversary of our first date. It made him look so refined.
I smiled. “Don't get cocky, Dave. You still brought luggage to be checked, Einstein.”
He shrugged and leaned in to rub his nose on mine as he said, “If it causes a delay, you can always just buy me new clothes in Vegas.”
I hesitated. I felt like I was always buying things for him and I worried I was trying to buy his affection. But he never complained. Maybe he liked having a sugar momma. He made a decent living as a personal shopper to the rich and famous here in Seattle, though his manager, Gwendolyn, had a hate on for him for some reason.
I looked at my feet and nodded. Then he took my hand and placed it in the crook of his arm like I was his princess, and led me into the airport. He whispered, “And who knows, it might be fun just to tie the knot in Vegas instead of that stuffy big wedding you wanted.”
That thrilled me. Could I actually break tradition and do something so spontaneous? It excited me just to think about it, but I knew I couldn't. It wasn't part of my plan.
I looked at the people bustling around us, heading out on adventures of their own, or returning home to relax after such an adventure. I was so glad that Dave had made me cave in and bring him along. He had insisted that just flying to Vegas and turning around four hours later to come back to Seattle was a waste. That I should cut loose and spend the weekend there with him to celebrate the signing of the contract.
I had to convince myself that changing my plans was a good thing. A growing experience to do something a little chaotic and out of my control. I had swallowed my anxiety and agreed. The celebratory sex when I said yes was mind-blowing.
I just knew that this day was going to be epic – how was I to know that it was going to be the worst day of my life?

Chapter 1 – Waking Up In Vegas

Ow. What a splitting headache. What happened?
I squinted my eyes, it was still dark out, wait no... why was my dress draped over my eyes? I moaned in pleasure at the feel of the lips on the back of my neck and the arm holding my waist possessively.
I reached up as I tried to organize my hazy thoughts and pulled the dress off my face, I was still drunk apparently. My bleary eyes came into sharp focus when I saw the glint of gold on my ring finger as I dropped the dress onto the floor.
I sat up quickly and grabbed my head, sorry for the quick movement. “Did we... did we get married last night?”
I let out a surprised squeak when a woman with black hair leaned over my shoulder to kiss my ear.
“Yes we did, wifey.”
I scrambled off the bed, intimately aware that I was stark naked, and there was a Pacific Island goddess sitting on the bed, her feet cutely curled behind her... also stark naked.
She beamed an amazing smile at me as I snatched my dress off the floor to cover my modesty, her deep honey-soaked voice said, “I know you said no names. But since we're married now, I guess I should introduce myself. Fay Trenton.”
She offered a delicate looking hand to me, I must admit that I noticed the gorgeous manicure she had, her nails shimmering in a smooth satin finish. She looked so... oh god, was I aroused? I reached out a hand absently, there is no excuse for bad manners, and shook her hand. “Olivia... umm, Olivia Strauss.”
I looked at the matching wedding band on her finger, and heard myself asking, “We're...”
She finished in a chipper tone that held none of the panic and disorientation I was feeling under the icepicks that were stabbing into my brain as my headache doubled, “Married. Yup.”
She was all smiles as she hopped up and swayed with feminine grace past me to grab a purse on the chair beside me as I backed up. God, she was tall, and beautiful and... she pulled out a half crumpled piece of paper that had water rings on it where drinks had been placed on it. She looked at it and said, “Well lookie there. Yup, Olivia. Pleased to meet you, so we gotta talk about where we're going to live and stuff. At least we're both from Seattle, that makes it easier.” She made a cute googly face, showing she had no problems with the fact that somehow, we had just –
Married? Live? What the hell happened last night? Then parts of it came snapping back into clear focus. That's right, my life was over. I had gone to the bar in Caesars Hotel and Casino to drink … to forget... well it apparently worked. I looked at the marriage certificate from the Chapel of Elvis Chained. It was my signature.
I reached to the bed now that this statuesque six-foot tall woman with those penetrating brown eyes was standing and I pulled the bedspread off of it and wrapped myself in it. Good lord, it smelled like sex... had we? I blushed and felt oddly aroused again. What the hell was wrong with me?
I ran to the bathroom and locked the door behind me. I had to think.
When Dave and I arrived at the hotel, I had quickly gotten ready for my meeting down in one of the executive conference rooms. We were running late. It took forever for the carousel to start turning at baggage claim.
I wanted to arrive a half hour early to make sure that everything was set up and ready for us. It didn't pay to assume that it was, with so much riding on this meeting. I guess that's why I got paid the big bucks.
As I rushed out, I had stopped to give David a rubber-banded stack of bills, a thousand dollars. “Here, go play those silly games you keep talking about. I don't expect this to take more than an hour or two at most. I'll find you in the casino.”
He had chuckled and slowed me down to give me a long lingering kiss as he countered, “They're not games, love. Gambling is an art.”
I cocked an eyebrow in question. “And they would be called 'what'? Of chance?”
He slapped my bottom with a huge smile on his face, making me squeak as he chuckled out, “Fine, games of chance. I guess they are games, smartass. Go knock 'em dead love, I'm sure I can find something to keep myself occupied.”
He was always so supportive. I dashed off to find the conference rooms. The hotel was pretty impressive. Simon Securities contracted with a lot of the casinos here in Vegas, that's why they needed our expertise in network security, they dealt in tens of billions of dollars a year for casinos all around the world.
So I guess it made sense to meet at one of their prize client's establishments. I got turned around, and it took me fifteen minutes to backtrack then get directions from the front desk to find the conference rooms. I was frustrated that I was cutting it so close.
That's when I realized that in my ummm... flustered distraction from my hunk of a man kissing me so hotly, I had left the files upstairs in the room. I took a second to pop my head into the conference room to see the presentation equipment was already set up and waiting. Good.
I don't think I had ever run so fast, getting back to our room. I swear the elevators were working in some slow motion alternate reality. I still had plenty of time to be on time. Punctuality is the paramount edict in professionalism. I should know, my screensaver on my computer at work has a cat saying that.
Don't look at me that way, I can see that you've already caught on that I'm not the most exciting person in the world.
I hadn't been away from the room for more than twenty minutes, so imagine my surprise when I ran my keycard and stepped into the room just to witness a busty brunette riding on top of my fiance like some sort of pornographic cowgirl.
I crossed my arms over my belly and started backing out the door, finding it impossible to breathe as I tried to process the shock of it. David almost threw the woman off of him and was rushing to the door, grabbing his boxers off the floor and pulling them up as the woman looked on in annoyance at him for being so rude.
I blinked at the memory. The man had actually dared to be a cliché and say, “Olivia, what are you doing here? It isn't what it looks like.”